The document U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,453 discloses an apparatus comprising means for the removal of stitches of a textile article from the needles of knitting machine to transfer the same stitches onto other needles of the same machine or onto external members such as the spikes of a hooking-up machine. However, this known apparatus is intended only to handle stitches which are fitted on needles of latch- or slide-type and, accordingly, it is not able to operate stitches fitted on different needles, for example of "the bearded" type, used in the Cotton knitters.